16 August 2017

Winnipeg: Piff the Magic Dragon

Thursday Aug 17th - Sunday Aug 20th

From Piff the Magic Dragon's Facebook page:

A note to subscribers: the content of this post is embedded from another website and is not available to preview. To view the content of the post, please visit http://CanadasMagic.blogspot.com. Some of the embedded code may be visible in this notification.

15 August 2017

Random thoughts from "Magic Theory, or Magic Fact? Let's Find Out."

Updated August 16 to add:


You may remember that I had the good fortune of spending time with Michael Close at Sorcerers Safari.  (I even snagged a mini-interview with him.)  I was always thoroughly impressed with the wisdom he shared with his advanced card classes. 

When I heard Michael was lecturing locally, I knew I had to make it if I could.


From the Canada's Magic Twitter feed:



Sunday night, the stars aligned and I was able to attend "Magic Theory, or Magic Fact? Let's Find Out."


Also from the Canada's Magic Twitter feed:


Among other things, during the lecture Michael discussed:
  • theory's place in performance arts (with wonderful music analogies)
  • his wonderfully complete definition of magic
  • how to find (and cure) trouble spots in performance
  • the importance of emotion and intellect
  • the importance scripting
  • assumptions that laymen make
  • control, repose, and chaos
  • "The Big Lie"


We got to see some magic too!  Of note, he performed "Red Blue Mama Fooler" and then pointed out The Big Problem and how he fixed it.  I was also delighted with a yet to be published routine from his upcoming eBook "Paradigm Shift."

Attendees were provided a discount code for MichaelClose.com which includes The Workers series, and Closely Guarded Secrets.  We were also tipped to the great sale price of Magic in the Real World.  (And if you didn't already know, there's this little thing called "Magic In Mind" that you can get for free at Vanishing Inc, which includes an essay from Michael as well as 32 other highly regarded professionals.)

If you haven't seen the announcement, Michael is hosting a workshop with Jason England and Michael Weber (and perhaps an additional mystery guest) in October.  Only eight spots remain.

Bottom line, as with Phil Matlin's report from a 2014 lecture by Michael, I was very impressed!

Far out Magic Dude.

Read Michael's thoughts about his lecture.

The last Tweet from Canada's Magic Twitter feed:











14 August 2017

CBC interview with Matt DiSero

An interview from August 2016, where Matt thinks he said something that upset a listener.


From the CBC:
For Matt DiSero, the magic came first—and then the comedy followed.

His uncle was a sword-swallower and fire-breather who first introduced him to magic. Matt credits performing in comedy clubs with the help he needed to hone his funny magic act.

Read more and listen to interview.

13 August 2017

Canadians remember Eugene Burger

From Perfect Magic:
Eugene Burger was special, as a magician and as a person. The first and most important memory I have of him was when he came to Montreal to lecture for Magie Montréal. It was many years ago and I was not that into magic at the time, but I went to the lecture to help Phil and Vim Vermeys with registration, etc.  and stayed of course for the lecture.

Anyone at that lecture learned valuable lessons. I don’t rememberphil-eugene-and-tom one trick that he did. It wasn’t about the tricks, it was about performing. Every word was well thought out and had a reason for being there. His jokes were not to get a laugh, which they got, but as he explained, when you laugh you close your eyes for a second and that’s all the time he needed to do what he had to do in front of your eyes.

Read more.


From Derek Selinger's Facebook page:



From Lawrence Larouche's Facebook page:




From Ben Train's Facebook page:



From the Facebook page for Michael Close:



From Shawn Farquhar's Facebook page:




Visit the Eugene Burger Memorial Page, McBride Magic & Mystery School on Facebook.


12 August 2017

BC: Reveen's Autumn 2017 tour

From the Facebook page of Reveen The Legend Continues:

A note to subscribers: the content of this post is embedded from another website and is not available to preview. To view the content of the post, please visit http://CanadasMagic.blogspot.com. Some of the embedded code may be visible in this notification.